Webster's definition

" A plant volunteer is a plant growing from self sown or accidentally dropped seed. "  See this little nasturtium?...looks very healthy and at the end of a kohlrabi row....but I didn't 'accidently
drop it......but I did have them growing nearby last year and I think this little guy wants to grow right there...but what to do....this is my experiment with small space growing....this plant will get big and take up too much room.......but since this plant is right inside the box I think I can train it to go outside the box....I love the flowers chopped with chives, and parsley and mixed into some butter for French bread....sounds good doesn't it?   It is very hard for any gardener to 'murder' a plant anyway.......more photos of the nasturtium later.


I have such a time with this site and I am sure it is me and not the site as Amy does so well....I had another photo on here showing how my little patch was growing and now I don't see it...perhaps I will when I click on 'publish'...........................This morning in our demo garden we had the first of many classes and this one was called Growing food in Small Spaces and I taught it and had 37 people there....good to see people wanting to grow good healthy food for their families...

progress on my little garden bed

my little 44x47 inch bed has little seedlings coming up...radishes, kohlrabi, beets and carrots...haven't seen the cucumbers yet.....and they can come any time because we have had a very warm spell....when exactly do you say warm and hot....I think we have had hot...was 91 today.   I constructed a primitive trellis so that I can grow something in a vertical fashion to save space but not sure what yet....and I haven't taken off the netting just yet because dogs have been out digging for moles and I want to protect my little plant babies till they get bigger.  

Home

I got home yesterday afternoon and now have a full blown cold. I have helped my husband with some wool that we received from some 4/H students. We have several bags of dirty wool straight off the sheep. We have been reading about how to process it and we are going to try the fermented suint method. Wish us luck. At least if we mess it up, the sheep will grow some more. We also went to the Master Gardener plant sale and now need to get busy planting, I don't feel like doing it but the plants are not going to wait until the nasty cold is over. I am leaving you with some more pictures of Fort Warden State Park. Keep weaving, Amy

Day four

I woke up today without a voice. I don't know if it is allergies or what. But even though I don't feel well, I looked better than the little girl who was sitting in front of the toilet this morning. I just sent my group to their last class. Tonight they will be reading some of their work and singing songs they wrote. Today they helped put a boat in the water which had a net in it. The got a chance to see all the kinds of fish that were in the net. I was surprised at the number of crabs and little salmon.

Day three

This is my 3rd day at Fort Worden State Park. My job has been to get 3 students to their classes on the marine environment
I think it can be compared to herding cats. It has meant that I am constantly reminding them to get somewhere on time, standing up a hill gesturing them up etc. I am tired and think I maybe getting a cold. Today we looked at plankton, talked about the problem with plastics in the water. We opened a bolis and looked through microscopes.

Day two

Today we went on a hike. We started in the rain and after it stopped,we had beautiful weather. We stopped and did some water experiments at a pond and then went to a lagoon. We stopped for lunch at South Beach park. The only thing I didn't do was walk on the algae covered rocks. We started at 8:30 and ended at 4:00. I am rather proud of myself for making it. Not bad for the oldest chaperone.

How Much can you grow in a Small Space

I have begun my documentation for a garden project.   I am hoping all my photos and text will become a Power Point for next year's classes.   I built this sad looking box measuring 44 inches by 47 inches....that is just the size of the boards I found......it is small and now it is planted with radishes, kolrabi, beets, carrots and 2 bush cucumbers in the corner....I am hoping those cucumber seeds wait to come up when it is warmer.    And the netting?   Well that is because the big dog, Claudiam likes to dig in nice soil.   So that will come off when things come up.   It could be used for netting to keep birds away.   I should be using it in another area of the garden where quail are gobbling up the peas as they come up.   The scale is one I got from where I used to work.   The man I worked with said they found it in the 'bone yard' and gave it to me.   I intend on weighing all the food that comes out of this garden.   I also intend on planting it very densley and also do succession planting so there is never bare soil........stay tuned.   How much food CAN a person grow in a very small space?   I am going to find out.